Meryl Streep sings her way to the Academy Awards as she makes history with her 20th Oscar nomination

Donald Trump laughingly called her overrated - but Meryl Streep just sang her way to her 20th Oscar nomination, a record, for her portrayal of one of the worst opera singers of all time.

Voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named Streep for her role in the film Florence Foster Jenkins, named for the woman who was known for what Streep called the ‘peculiarity of her voice’.

The 67-year old , who actually has a good voice , had to learn several arias for the Stephen Frears film, ’Then I had to learn how to sing them badly,’ she told the Daily Mail.

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Making history: Meryl Streep sang her way to her 20th Oscar nomination , a record, for her portrayal of one of the worst opera singers of all time

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Florence Foster Jenkins also stars Hugh Grant as the husband who attempts to keep from his wife the fact that she croaks like a frog when she sings.

Three-times an Oscar winner, Streep has received nominations sixteen times in the best actress category ,and four times as best supporting actress.

She’s way ahead in the nomination stakes from any other star.

As seen on screen: Voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named Streep for her role in the film Florence Foster Jenkins

Acting greats: Florence Foster Jenkins also stars Hugh Grant as the husband who attempts to keep from his wife the fact that she croaks like a frog when she sings

Katherine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson were nomination a dozen times each , though Hepburn won four golden statuettes for best actress while Nicholson won two best actor honours and one for best supporting actor.

Bette Davis and Laurence Olivier were nominated for 10 acting Oscars while Paul Newman and Spencer Tracy had nine.

One of the best: Three-times an Oscar winner, Streep has received nominations sixteen times in the best actress category, and four times as best supporting actress

Although Streep’s performance as Florence Foster Jenkins was widely acclaimed , some Academy members may have been moved to vote for her following her bravura speech at the Golden Globes where she ripped into then President elect Trump.

True to form, Trump swiftly sought to denigrate and diminish the legendary actress by characterising her as ‘one of the most over-rated in Hollywood’ and a ‘Hillary flunky’, to boot.

People can argue all they want over the accuracy , or not, of Trump’s critical analysis, but it was clear early on in Streep’s career that hers was a face in the crowd to watch.

She was nominated in 1978 for her second screen part, playing opposite Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter.

But her first win came when she was nominated a second time the following year as best supporting actress for her role as Joanna , the wife battling with ex husband ,played by Dustin Hoffman , in Kramer vs. Kramer.

Too far? Although Streep’s performance as Florence Foster Jenkins was acclaimed , some Academy members may have been moved to vote following her bravura speech at the Globes

Streep’s third Oscar citation was in 1981 for The French Lieutentant’s Woman .

She didn’t win that one but she won her first Academy Award for leading actress at the 1982 Oscars for her heart-aching performance in Sophie’s Choice where she played a mother interned in a Nazi prison camp who has to decide which one of her children will die.

At the ceremony, Sylvester Stallone opened the envelope and uttered the words,’ Marvellous Meryl Streep.’

Between 1983 and 2011 she was further nominated for: Silkwood, Out of Africa , Ironweed, A Cry In the Dark, ,Postcards From the Edge, The Bridges of Madison County, One True Thing, Music of the Heart , Adaption, The Devil Wears Prada , Doubt and Julie & Julia.

She finally won her third Oscar for her empathetic study of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady .

Streep also received nominations in 2013 for August: Osage County and in 2014 for Into the Woods.